I tend to think that the aikido demonstrations and the aikido video clips posted on the internet are having the opposite affect to that intended. They need to be more realistic with committed realistic attacks with uke resisting and not just falling over so easily or jumping. People just don't think these demonstrations and video clip performances are plausible, and that leads to them thinking aikido is not plausible. If there were more realistic video clips available or demonstrations done which show how effective aikido can be against an unco-operative committed attacker, then there may be greater interest in aikido. Note that I fully understand that in training uke needs to be co-operative otherwise he/she will get injured.

Taking YouTube as an example, it wouldn't matter. Every aikido video I've seen has the same set of interchangeable idiots commenting underneath it; aikido sucks, MMA/BJJ rules. It has nothing to do with the content of the video, it's just because it's aikido. You could show footage of aikidoka punching attackers so hard they explode, under the video you'd find someone dribbling about how aikido doesn't work/is for noobs, etc.

Aikido's image is firmly fixed. To change it now would require a unified public relations effort, which isn't going to happen.